Myst

[Ubik]

Just a thought: If you pretty much must use Windows 98 to play Riven, you won't need any extra hardware and rebooting if you run the older version of Windows in a virtual machine.

I have used VMware Server to make and run virtual machines, and it works relatively nicely with Win98. It's free, so only thing you need to pay for is the Windows license. VMware virtual machines don't have much hardware acceleration support (at least not 3D support), but for Riven you probably won't be even needing any special acceleration. There exists other virtualisation software too, but I haven't used them so I can't give you any other recommendations.

[Nyarlathotep]

For example, the largest guild is solely dedicated to answering questions, giving hints, or even sharing access to ages if you want to take shortcuts. And they keep up an organized twenty-four hour watch. A lot of people took it very personally when the game was cancelled the first time, so if you identify yourself as someone new, the serious players aren't going to abuse you so much as treat you like you're made of candy and invite you to parties.

I heard about that! I think it's wonderful that the players actually got together and decided to do such a thing (I heard that said guild came into being mostly BECAUSE of the players)

Very few people are actually fluent in the language, and it's not at all necessary to complete anything. Every so often a document will show up that has some story information on it, and we'll all go to the forums to find a translation. That's about it. Knowing the D'ni numbers is important, the way it was in Riven, but that's easy. It's base five so there are only four digits.

Well, base 25, actually.

The demo is a good way to get a quick feel for the game, but it's a content-limited demo instead of a timed one, so you can't go anywhere interesting. If you really want to try it out, spring for the 99 cent one month Gametap trial.

I see. I might do that.

[DragonRidr]

Gee, thanks guys. Way to get me re-addicted.

Spoiler:

Stupid throne. What's the use of having 36 units of power if I have no idea what to do with them?

Nyarlathotep, let me know if you do decide to get into Uru Live. I've been thinking about trying to do so myself soon, and that might be the right opportunity to convince my parents that Uru won't kill me like WoW did to my brother.

[Owehn]

If you do decide to check out Uru, you can look me up (my KI# is 45434) and I'll give you the tour.

[Nyarlathotep]

I'll let you guys know when I do it. Prolly won't be for a while yet, I've got a lot of settling in to do at school and need to get a feel for my schedule, but yeah.

Once I actually get a real job, I might even get a subscription if I like it (though $120 a year for a game seems... a lot. )

[Owehn]

They have deals for if you pay for more than a month at a time. During one of their sales, I got a year subscription for less than half the normal price.

Edit: Didn't mean for this to turn into a gametap advertisement.

[Nyarlathotep]

So. I go to play the demo today...

Only to find out it's being canceled in April.

Serious. Serious boo. At least I won't spend too much money on it then.

[Rook]

Well, shit. We can only pray for a second revival at some point in the future.

I just hope the communities don't die this time; after the first shutdown, all the fan sites and guild forums and such were just dead. It was kind of eerie, but mostly just sad that everything fell apart like that. If we do ever see a revival, I think it'll likely be a fan run non-profit deal, probably needing additional donations

The only consolation is that I won't have to choose between Uru and EVE.

[trickster721]

Motherfucker. They're also shutting down the servers, which they promised not to do even if they stopped buying new content, because they're fucking liars.

There's a version of the server for the fans to run, and an active mod community from before, I imagine all that will be turned back on now.

What really sucks is that they never, never get a real chance. This was going to be the first time they got an opportunity to show what they could do on solid footing, after years and years of limbo, and AGAIN they pull they rug out from under them when the time comes to write the check.

I can't deal with this right now, but I'd just like to take back all those nice things I said about Gametap. It's DRM infected old-media garbage. I'll be buying used or getting warez of the few games I was actually playing, and cancelling my account. I wonder if they factored the wave of cancellations they're about to get into their fucking spreadsheet.

[mosc]

The magic of myst to me was that it was somehow disturbing. I felt alone on this island and I kept expecting something to jump out at me or accidentally wander into something. Once I actually beat the game and realized the suspense was mostly all talk, I never really had much desire to play again.

The sequels thus really never interested me. Without that sense of wonder, the mechanics just start to really become flat puzzles.

I was thinking about Myst DS but it sounds like I should avoid it now? Thanks for the tip!

[cyberdeftly]

Motherfucker. They're also shutting down the servers, which they promised not to do even if they stopped buying new content, because they're fucking liars.

There's a version of the server for the fans to run, and an active mod community from before, I imagine all that will be turned back on now.

What really sucks is that they never, never get a real chance. This was going to be the first time they got an opportunity to show what they could do on solid footing, after years and years of limbo, and AGAIN they pull they rug out from under them when the time comes to write the check.

I can't deal with this right now, but I'd just like to take back all those nice things I said about Gametap. It's DRM infected old-media garbage. I'll be buying used or getting warez of the few games I was actually playing, and cancelling my account. I wonder if they factored the wave of cancellations they're about to get into their fucking spreadsheet.

shame

[Nyarlathotep]

The magic of myst to me was that it was somehow disturbing. I felt alone on this island and I kept expecting something to jump out at me or accidentally wander into something. Once I actually beat the game and realized the suspense was mostly all talk, I never really had much desire to play again.

The sequels thus really never interested me. Without that sense of wonder, the mechanics just start to really become flat puzzles.

I was thinking about Myst DS but it sounds like I should avoid it now? Thanks for the tip!

Well, in Revelation, things really DO jump out at you and try to kill you in one of the worlds, so...?

[Triss Hawkeye]

Ooh, Revelations keeps giving me a heart attack every time something happens - I'm still used to the original Myst (which I recently replayed), where nothing happens unless you tell it to.

[Shadeofblue]

I've finished Myst and Exile so far, and I'm working on Riven and Revelations right now (it helps to be able to go back and forth if I get stuck on one). Riven seems awesome so far (I've found 4 islands and Gehn's journal so far, not much more, though), and Revelations is just beautiful. I've never really cared much about impressive graphics for games (gameplay first and all that) but I find that I'm okay with some of the shortcomings of Revelation (not the least of which is the whole prison age/trapping book thing) just because it looks so damn amazing. It does feel quite a bit different than the original three Mysts, but not necessarily in a bad way. I really like the flashback scenes, especially the progression of Sirrus in Spire. Plus, Spire in general is just an amazing age, I don't think I've felt so immersed in any other Myst age.

As for Myst and Exile, I liked both of them a lot. I think some of the mystery and ambience of the first one was lost on me as I was in middle school (about 12 years old) when I played it, so I like Exile more. Saavedro is an amazing villain, that's for sure, and I liked Amateria more than any other age in both games.

[Pai]

As for Myst and Exile, I liked both of them a lot. I think some of the mystery and ambience of the first one was lost on me as I was in middle school (about 12 years old) when I played it, so I like Exile more. Saavedro is an amazing villain, that's for sure, and I liked Amateria more than any other age in both games.

Exile is my favorite. Blasphemous, I know. But I loved it's Ages and the storyline.

[Triss Hawkeye]

I have to admit I really enjoyed Exile. Saavedro's awesome.

And OhMiGosh. I finished the Book of Ti'ana and the Book of D'ni. I did NOT see the Terahnee thing coming, I'll just say that...

But they're all brilliant books. Me wants Book of Marrim.

[SlyReaper]

Does anyone know if Myst and Riven will work under Linux? I'm thinking that if it doesn't like XP, you could partition a couple of gigs over to a free Linux OS and run it from there under Wine. Or is that just masochistic?

I've only played the original Myst and Exile so far, thinking about getting the 5 game compilation. I have to admit I absolutely LOATHED the Selenetic age in the original Myst. I got lost down in those tunnels for HOURS before I figured out the noises were giving me directions. Even then, some of the sounds sounded so similar it was still really difficult to figure out which way to go. Horrible HORRIBLE age. And then you have to go back and do the whole thing AGAIN to get the second page!

I loved the ending of Exile. Saavedro was a legend. I did feel somewhat ambivalent about releasing a violently insane person back to his people, but I guess it's better than leaving him trapped on that ledge until he dies of dehydration. And you get a nice warm fuzzy feeling when he salutes you from the gondola. Awwww.

[headprogrammingczar]

Guaranteed make-myst-and-riven-work-on-xp/vista instructions:
1. Get Alcohol 52% (google for alcohol 52 free)
2. Image all Riven and Myst disks
3. Install Riven and Myst from the mounted images
4. Go to your Myst install folder
5. Right-click on myst.exe
6. Go to the compatibility tab
7. Run in compatibility mode for Windows 95 (Myst and Riven were designed for 95, not 98) to make the program run
8. Disable visual themes, so the menu bar works
9. Repeat steps 4-8 for Riven and the Myst "Making Of..." .exe files
10. Open Mohawk.w32 in your Riven folder (use Notepad)
11. Find the text:

Code: Select all

[Audio]
fEnableMidi=true

and change it to

Code: Select all

[Audio]
fEnableMidi=false

to make sound work in Riven.
12. Play and enjoy (also note that Riven will no longer require cd changes when moving from island to island)
And don't complain about it not working until after you have tried this. This fix is completely independent of what version of Quicktime you use. I run Vista (shudder), and have downloaded every Quicktime update that it has prompted me with (including updates that come with Itunes). Compatibility mode automatically changes the way the OS interfaces with QT, making the version of QT you use irrelevant.

[Rook]

This fix is completely independent of what version of Quicktime you use. I run Vista (shudder), and have downloaded every Quicktime update that it has prompted me with (including updates that come with Itunes). Compatibility mode automatically changes the way the OS interfaces with QT, making the version of QT you use irrelevant.

Got to try this over the weekend. If it works, you will win OVER NINE THOUSAND INTERNETS. I kid you not.

[backslash]

I loved Riven because it was so challenging. I had played 7th Guest and other puzzle games before, and tried a few screens of MYST at a friend's house. But I found Riven to be a true, frustrating, demanding game. Like someone said earlier in this forum, though, if you really immerse yourself in the culture, you can get through it. The clues are there...

I finally finished MYST when I was working on Exile, and enjoyed it thoroughly. I didn't actually play Riven until much, much later (and I started it three times before finally digging in and going all the way through). I worked on an initial MYST IV, but the company was sold out from under me and I subsequently exited the gaming production world. *sigh*

As for "why do developers DO that?"--boy, could I tell you stories....

[pinkgothic]

This fix is completely independent of what version of Quicktime you use.

I daresay no. I just tried what you suggested for Riven (the five CD variant), and that simply wasn't enough. I did, though, find this, which (in combination with your suggestion) resulted in TOUCHDOWN.

So: Thank you!

[Gizzmo0815]

Myst is and always will be my favorite game. The reason is twofold...I attribute my current love of all things fantasy with Myst, it got me started on publishing some of my own works. I'm a pretty average guy I like to think, and fantasy is my sneaky little geek secret that most people don't know I'm into. And the second reason is that, in some sort of twisted way I think it left a lasting impression that I always wanted to work in a career that involved problem solving...which, years later, I'm happily doing.

Riven is my favorite by far...it's one of the few games that have ever came out that actually made me care about the characters. And it's one of the few games that ever came out that was actually capable of making me physically uncomfortable when I played it. Some parts of the various Myst worlds are just damn creepy! Remember the Whark??? Jesus...that thing half scared me to death when I first saw it swim by in that big blue port hole under the water...%&!#@ awesome!!

I sincerely wish that, with all of the gaming power that we have available at our fingertips today. Some company would come out with a Myst-like game. No death...no bullets flying...puzzles that make logical sense (even if they're unbelievably difficult!). ICO was close...The Longest Journey almost hit the mark...and several others have almost given me that same feeling of mystery and intrigue that the Myst series managed (yes that includes the books) but there really is nothing else quite like it...

I'm curious about the Uru thing...though I hear it may be dying very soon. I imagine that I'll be signing up for the $.99 deal to give it a last hurrah before it goes. Who's with me??

[EvanED]

Has anyone not seen Ghen sing opera?

(This is in one of the pack files on the CDs, but not in game. You have to use a separate program to extract it.)

[Owehn]

It actually can be accessed in the game through an easter egg. It's pretty complicated, though.

Here's a webpage showing how to access the eggs.

[xyzzy]

Gee, thanks guys. Way to get me re-addicted.

Spoiler:

Stupid throne. What's the use of having 36 units of power if I have no idea what to do with them?

Nyarlathotep, let me know if you do decide to get into Uru Live. I've been thinking about trying to do so myself soon, and that might be the right opportunity to convince my parents that Uru won't kill me like WoW did to my brother.

Ah yes, that bit. If you want a hint,

Spoiler:

The throne moves...

[ninjacore]

I didn't want to necro an old thread so I'm starting a new one.

I just finished Uru:Path of the Shell and only have Myst 5 and Riven to play to complete all the games. (I'm really slow with them. Mostly because I only play sporadically)
Anyway, they are really entertaining games. Interesting story, amazing graphics, addicting puzzles and just perfect games if you are in a relaxed mood.
Myst 4 may be my favorite of them all so far, followed closely by the first Uru. Path of the Shell was cool especially ahnonay age, but a few of the puzzles were retardly hard.

Spoiler:

How the fuck did they think the waiting 15 minutes puzzles would be fun or good in any way??

Anyway, I'm just wondering if any other xkcdians play them or have played them.

I read that Cyan is going to release the source code for Uru. I'm pretty excited about that, there is some cool fan made content already and chances are good that fans will revive Uru live. I never had the chance to play it when it was going on but I would jump on the chance to do so.

[headprogrammingczar]

Riven is by far the best in the series, simply because the puzzles are justified by the game world. Myst IV comes close to what Riven did, and looks damn good while doing it. I didn't really like the graphics in Myst V, and I hear most of the game is a pain in the ass. Come to think of it, Riven is the only Myst game without a "what the fuck" super-difficult puzzle at the end.

[Bakemaster]

I will always love the original Myst, and Riven was better-looking with better-integrated puzzles. I never really went very far with Exile or Revelations, and the third-person thing dissuaded me from even trying Uru.

[ninjacore]

eh, Got moderated to this thread anyway

Bakemaster, don't get scared off by the third person view in Uru. It's just too awesome of a game, not to play. besides, I always played it in first person view so it doesn't even matter.

[Kag]

Riven is the only Myst game without a "what the fuck" super-difficult puzzle at the end.

You have to be kidding me. Like half the game was those!

[headprogrammingczar]

Riven is the only Myst game without a "what the fuck" super-difficult puzzle at the end.

You have to be kidding me. Like half the game was those!

The puzzles had actual clues to solving them though. If you want to see "what the fuck" super-difficult, try the endgame puzzle in Myst IV. You don't even get instructions.

[ninjacore]

Riven is the only Myst game without a "what the fuck" super-difficult puzzle at the end.

You have to be kidding me. Like half the game was those!

The puzzles had actual clues to solving them though. If you want to see "what the fuck" super-difficult, try the endgame puzzle in Myst IV. You don't even get instructions.

Myst 4 wasn't that bad. I will confess that I used the in game hints a number of times in myst 4 and some of the puzzles were still hard to figure out, but I got them eventually.
None of the Myst games compares to the last few puzzles of Uru:PotS though. They were seriously ..what THE FUCK??? even after I read some hints. They actually pissed me off because there was no way I would have got them on my own. That's really bad puzzle design.

[Nhoj Serob]

Myst = Awesome. best electronic game(and first, go figure) I ever played. Fav. age- Stone Ship
Ri\/en= Even Better! Now I have five disks of puzzles to play through. Fav. Age- BookPress Island (AKA Crater Island.
Exile= Meh. average puzzles, first Myst game I beat without looking at a guide, though. This game definitely gets props for the 3d-sphere as a field of vision. Fav. Age- Voltaic
End of Ages= Best plot ever, but poor puzzles. the animation and world design definitely made up for that though. unfortunately, unlike Ri\/en, where all the puzzles seemed to be naturally occuring, every puzzle in this one seemed to be very forced

Spoiler:

for example, the whole "Power Transfer" puzzle at the begining, nobody would ever design a vital system that was that hard to use.

Uru- just straight-up won't run on my system, but as I just got a Mac, I'll be trying it out again shortly.

By the way, was I the only one that noticed a surprising lack of Myst references in the comic strips? I mean, I thought at least one would pop up in there somewhere.

[LTK]

The only Myst I ever played was End of Ages, and I loved it to bits. The atmosphere, the immersion, the plot, the puzzles (the drawing tablets!!), so many things about it made me sweat glee out of my pores. And then I read what other people had to say about it, and they said it was one of the worse games in the series. I was surprised about this. I'd been planning to play the other games to see if they were better, but now that I'm running Windows 7 I guess I'm not going to be able to do that easily.

[headprogrammingczar]

I know Myst will work out of the box if you run it in compatibility mode. Riven works in compatibility mode, but you might need to install Quicktime in compatibility mode too for it to work. Also, it will run without sound; to fix that, open all the game files in Notepad and search them for "audio" until you find one that says something about an "audio proxy", then set that to false. The others should work just fine on Windows 7 without going through any hoops.

Also, when you play Riven, you will definitely want to use Alcohol/Daemon Tools so you can have all 5 discs loaded in drives simultaneously.

[Clumpy]

I'd still play Myst even now, mainly because I've forgotten all of the puzzles, even if I'll have to consciously forget that you can beat the game in three minutes if you know how to accomplish a certain puzzle . I thought the puzzles were fun and just intuitive enough (not nearly as obnoxious as Riven's "read the developers' minds" puzzles), except for the elevator puzzle. Really, Myst? An entire game of static puzzle-solving and then ONE puzzle that requires timing? I still miss that game. I probably have it kicking around somewhere at my parents' house.

[Geekthras]

I just refound Riven and have been playing through it, keeping a journal as I go (WOO NERD POINTS WOO)
... Goddamn this game is hard and awesome is all I can say. Right now I am working on:

Spoiler:

The puzzle with the marbles and the holes on top of the dome. Also I've been to Moiety and back.
And HELL those eyebulbs confused the heck out of me. The water one took me forever to figure out, as did the jungle one.

The thing I really love about these games is also the really deep universe they made for them. There's all sorts of things you don't notice really, then later you figure it out and go "THAT IS SO COOL"

[frogman]

I just replayed 1-3. Riven still is the best, but I enjoyed Exile more this time around than I remember earlier. I would replay 4, but that would involve going downstairs and turning on my PC and frankly I am too lazy. I would never replay 5. That was one of the worst games I ever played.

I think it would be cool if they redid some of the earlier games (read: Riven).

Myst was probably the first game I ever played on the computer, and my earliest memories I have are of watching my dad playing both games.

I really enjoyed Robyn Miller's music in the first two games, especially the opening scene in Myst, Sirius's theme, and the song that plays when you

Spoiler:

unlock the Moiety Age in Riven.

[headprogrammingczar]

The best way to play Riven, by far, is on a 60" TV connected to speakers that are bigger than you. I did that once at a friend's house, and nothing has ever come close to being that much fun. I would really like to see Riven redone in full 3D like Myst IV. I would seriously pay $50 to buy it again, just for the water effects.

[frogman]

But not bad 3d like Myst V. Just no.